Hurricane Felicia strengthens, heads toward Hawaii

• Story Highlights
• Hurricane Felicia reaches Category 4 status on Wednesday
• Storm expected to weaken before it hits Hawaii on Monday
• Hurricane season runs through November 30

(CNN) — Hurricane Felicia intensified over the Pacific Ocean Wednesday, strengthening to a Category 4 storm with sustained winds of 140 miles (220 kilometers) per hour, the U.S. National Hurricane Center reported.

Forecasters predict Hurricane Felicia will weaken as it moves over colder water.

The center of the storm was located about 1,455 miles (2,350 kilometers) southwest of the southern tip of the Mexican state of Baja California. Felicia was moving in a northwesterly direction and expected to strike near the Hawaiian islands, potentially making landfall around Monday.

However, Felicia’s journey over Pacific waters is expected to weaken the storm, though it will still bring rain and rowdy surf.

The hurricane center said the storm was “likely near peak intensity” and that “weakening is expected in the next couple of days.”

“If anything, it will be a rain-making system over the islands,” said Richard Knabb, deputy director of the Central Pacific Hurricane Center.

Knabb told CNN that there are no real storm preparations underway in Hawaii as Felicia is still thousands of miles away, but officials are keeping an eye on the storm “just in case.” Hurricanes 101: How hurricanes are classified »

Earlier in the week, a hurricane forecasting team at Colorado State University issued a slightly lower storm prediction for storms forming in the Atlantic.

The university said it expects 10 named storms in the Atlantic — four of them hurricanes and two of them major hurricanes of Category 3 or higher, meaning they would have sustained winds of at least 111 mph.

The team reduced its previous forecast, issued in June, of 11 named storms, five hurricanes and two major hurricanes.

The hurricane season began June 1 and runs through November 30.

CNN’s Lee Garen contributed to this story.

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